That's a long time, but as I get ready to go to the DMV, it suddenly doesn't seem that long ago. I distinctly remember sitting in those seats, waiting for my number to be called.
Back then, I didn't know what a Holland lop was. In fact, I still had a year of building our home and a year of building my parents' home ahead of me (Dad helped me for a year while mom watched the kids as we built our house; then I repaid Dad's help by working on his house for a year - yes, I can nail a nail!). It was after that, that life seemed to open up to new possibilities. After a while, I started home schooling the kids and decided to get some rabbits because I thought it would be so educational for them.
I'm not sure it ever did anything for them, but it sure did a lot for me!
I bred my first two does on February 22, 2003, (no, not together, there was a buck involved) more than three years after I got this driver's license. That was three years and nearly nine months ago. Since then, a lot has happened.
- I purchased and worked through dozens of potential foundation animals to find the few that really worked for me
- 555 rabbits were born and survived long enough to be numbered and dubbed "The Nature Trail's"
- Andrew and I built a barn and over 60 cages
- I developed two websites - one for my Hollands and one for pet rabbits
- My website design business is off the ground and running
- My rabbits earned my first leg, I granded my first rabbit, and homegrown rabbits placed in national contests
- I won my first BOB, BRIS, and BIS
- 28 Hollands of my own breeding have granded here plus some were granded by other exhibitors
- I wrote well over 300 BLOG posts.
So, even if I'd had just a regular four-year driver's license, it would still have covered my entire rabbit-breeding career!
And now it's time to renew. I wonder what I will reflecting back on in four more years. I hope I look back on when I produced my first rabbits with an all-grand champion pedigree. Or, and maybe this is even more of a reach, I will have granded a rabbit with an all-grand champion pedigree. Wouldn't that be fun!
Are you just getting started? Have you been doing this for a while and feel like success will take forever. Take heart. You can get a lot done in a relatively short period of time. I guarantee it.
When does your driver's license expire? Be sure to stop and see how far you've come since you last renewed it.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
